The Belgravia Dispatch wondering why Josh Marshall can’t get his story straight or his facts right.
My 1st guess- he is so expereienced at being wrong, that he just is just doing what he knows best- being wrong. You have to look far and wide to find someone who was, for example, more wrong about every aspect of North Korea, starting with the Agreed Framework and continuing on through the multilateral talks. It was an impressive showing from Josh, which is why he never mentions North Korea any more.
My 2nd guess- The Scorpion and the Frog:
A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of a stream and the scorpion asks the frog to carry him across on its back. The
frog asks, “How do I know you won’t sting me?” The scorpion says, “Because if I do, I will die too.”The frog is satisfied, and they set out, but in midstream, the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of paralysis and starts to sink, knowing they both will drown, but has just enough time to gasp “Why?”
Replies the scorpion: “Its my nature…”
It is Josh’s nature to be a partisan hack, loose with the facts, heavy on accusations and light on evidence. That is what he does. Have you forgotten who started the rumor’s about Bill Frist being racist because of pencils? Have you forgotten who starts 90% of the memes in the blogosphere? I haven’t.
*** Update ***
Some background on Frist’s pencil gate can be found here. Marshall ran with it and the whole Mario Barry nonsense at TPM.
Jon Henke
Josh has responded, indicating that he didn’t mean the immediately preceding numbers…he meant the pre-war numbers.
You know, that would be a valid argument if popularity was a cyclical issue like the economy and you had to compare similar points in the cycle.
Since it’s not, though….
Steven Tyler
“It is Josh’s nature to be a partisan hack, loose with the facts, heavy on accusations and light on evidence.”
This is a textbook definition of projection. Cole, you are the very definition of a partisan hack. You can only dream about being one-half the thinker, the reporter, and the writer that Marshall is. Sucks to be you, I guess.
JPS
Oh put a sock in it, Steven. Cole admits errors graciously, treats civil disagreement civilly, and when people on his side are being assholes he calls them on it. That’s pretty far from being a partisan hack, and it’s more than Marshall usually does, so your comment amounts to a misplaced “so’s your old man.”
Jeff G
What’s this Bill Frist pencil thing. I was away for a while and must have missed it. And I’m fighting with Google for leaving its dirty dishes in the sink and not replacing the Diet Dr. Pepper after drinking the last one, so…I can use somebody’s help.
Ricky
Has anyone thought of a running tally made up of the obvious falsehoods put forth by Marshall & Kevin Drum, to find out which is the more untrustworthy blogger? I sometimes lose count (although I admit that I rarely read either due to their dishonest hackery).
HH
The fact that Josh acknowledged anything on his blog was incorrect is nothing short of a miracle.
Brian
I heard a variation of this story, involving a snake. Click here.